Look at me move! Your baby’s early stretches

At first, your baby may be comforted by being wrapped or swaddled, so you might only see movements of arms and legs during dressing or nappy changing. But before long they'll turn into a professional wriggler.

Freedom to move

Your newborn baby doesn't have a sense of where their body begins and ends and, as they become more comfortable to have their arms and legs free to move, they'll stretch and kick and begin to feel the length of their body through these movements.

Repetition builds control

Initially, they will seem to lack control as your baby moves both sides of their body together in random jerky movements. Babies spend around five per cent of their time making these kinds of repetitive movements of their arms, hands, legs, body and tongue, and these actions help to develop muscle tone, control and their sense of their body, as well as strengthening neural pathways linked to movement.